From Embers and Ashes
by DragonyPhoenix
Summary: Drabbles and shorts that might become a longer story. For now they bring Severus to Sunnydale.
1. Final Darkness

The boy had taken the tears and yet he lingered. Severus shut his eyes against the unexpected pity and embraced the darkness. The sound, three sets of feet pattering against cobblestones, faded into the distance.

The boy had Lily's eyes. He'd never let himself acknowledge it, but the boy had Lily's eyes.

He had one last chance to be honest with himself. The boy hadn't killed Lily. Severus had given himself to darkness and that darkness had taken her. With one final thought, Severus surrendered to the greatest darkness. He'd no longer have to live in a world without Lily.


	2. Asclepian Oath

Naomi knew that the Master Healer was right to insist on a thorough search of the castle but still felt as if she and her companions were abandoning the wounded already gathered in the Great Hall. Wayne Hopkins, a seventh year student, was no great loss to the healing effort. Even now, hours after the battle, he held his wand at the ready as if expecting an attack. No, that wasn't fair. Unlike Naomi, he'd been at the battle. He'd seen friends cut down. He'd likely almost died himself.

"Lumos." As light flared behind her, Naomi glanced back at her companions. Wayne had stopped as if afraid to get too far from Senior Healer Oakenstone who was reading an owled message by the light of her wand. Naomi turned back to the door. The dying, those not yet found, couldn't afford to wait for her to gather her courage.

Her gasp, a sharp intake of breath, went unnoticed by the dark entity laying against the latticed windows. Such black hair and robes, darker than night against bone white skin, could belong only to Death. She blinked and the figure resolved into human form.

"Professor Snape." Headmaster Snape she reminded herself as she darted across the room to drop by his side. He didn't move. His wound was as terrible as any she'd ever encountered but her mirror fogged when she held it to his mouth. She grinned in relief. She'd seen too much death that day.

"Get away from him." Naomi startled at the sound. She'd never heard words carry so much rage. Wayne stood over them, pointing his wand directly at Headmaster Snape. Naomi drew her own wand and whipped it around in a circle, raising a shield between her patient and the furious young man. She hadn't meant to call up the Rod of Asclepius but the serpent-entwined staff glowed green and brown on her shield. As a symbol of healing, it seemed appropriate but Wayne, obviously mistaking it for a snake, shouted "Slytherin bastard" and rained spell after spell down on them.

She knew she couldn't last, not against the rage fueling Wayne's spells, but even so Naomi threw more power into her shield. He'd not kill the patient, not on her watch. Her Healer's Oath demand she do all she could to save him.

Wayne's spells battered against Naomi's shield. As it started to buckle under the pressure, another voice called out, not loud but clear: "Petrificus Totalus."

Wayne fell to the floor stiff as a board. The Senior Healer, standing in the doorway, seemed to take in Snape's condition in one glance. During the triage after the battle, the Healers had been communicating by owls to conserve their energy. Senior Healer Oakenstone now used a spell to send out a call."I need an immediate retrieval to St. Mungo's. Private room. Highest security."

"Private room? Security?" Dazed from the attack, Naomi kept her questions short.

The Senior Healer gestured towards Wayne. "He's not the only student with a grudge against the Headmaster."

Petrified, Wayne could only glare at Snape from the periphery of his eyes, but even so Naomi could feel his rage. She'd heard rumors of atrocities at Hogwarts but they'd seemed too fantastical to believe. She'd been mistaken. In the Great Hall she'd seen bruises and wounds that spoke to months of abuse. Perhaps she'd been wrong to shield the Headmaster.

The Senior Healer seemed to read her thoughts. "You did the right thing, Naomi. Our job is to save lives. Others will dispense justice."

Naomi understood what the Senior Healer was saying, but as she imagined what the students had been through, she didn't see how the wizarding world could recover. "How do we fix this? What do we do now?"

"We do what we do best. We heal."


	3. Visitor

Severus would, if asked, blame the miscreants whispering in the corridor for his inability to focus on the Journal of Healing Potions but, in fact, even though he'd been recovering at St. Mungo's for over a week, he had yet to regain his strength.

"No, I don't understand why you have to see him." It couldn't be. The most idiotic of the Weasley brats was not lurking outside his room.

"Never mind him. We'll be in the waiting room … unless you want us to go with?" Severus dropped against his pillow. First Weasley and now Granger. Could Potter be far behind? Thinking better of his reaction – he didn't want to appear weak before the boy – Severus reached for his journal. If he seemed busy, perhaps Potter would leave him alone.

The boy stepped into the room. At least he was alone. He'd apparently declined Granger's suggestion that the other two accompany him. Irritated that he felt thankful for the small mercy, Severus growled out the boy's name. "Mr. Potter."

"Professor or, uh, Headmaster?" The boy sounded appropriately uncertain. Even Severus didn't know what title he currently held.

"I don't expect to return to Hogwarts." Severus had been brought on as a professor at a young age, before he'd had a chance to formally study the more advanced magics. He'd never earned a degree and, as he could no longer lay claim to Professor or Headmaster … "Mister will suffice."

"Mr. Snape." Potter winced as if the reduced honorific disturbed him although that seemed unlikely. Severus assumed he'd merely projected his own feelings onto the boy.

"Visiting the sick, Potter? How magnanimous of you."

"No, that's not, I mean, yes I suppose since you're sick and I'm visiting …"

"Is there some reason for this invasion of my sickroom, Potter?"

The boy took a deep breath. "I wanted to thank you."

"Thank. Me."

"If you hadn't shared your memories …"

If those idiot healers had allowed him to die, this conversation could have been avoided. "I'd rather not discuss it. Ever."

"I wouldn't have understood. I wouldn't have known what to do. I can't even begin to guess how many more children would have lost their parents. You saved them. You stopped the war."

For the first time since Potter had entered his room, Severus really looked at the boy. Lily's eyes stared back. They didn't hold forgiveness but they did understand his actions, both the good and the bad. Damn, the boy was waiting for a response. "You're welcome," he replied. It seemed the quickest way to get rid of the nuisance.

For a moment, the boy looked as if he planned to continue but merely added, "I owe you for the lives you saved." He didn't mention the lives Severus had taken. "I owe you." And then he was gone.

Severus glanced at the journal. It couldn't distract him now. He pulled the cord to call a Healer. Perhaps he could convince one to prescribe a sleeping draught.


	4. An Interesting Case, Ah, How Lovely

"Hello." Severus, unsurprised when the Healer barged in without a by-your-leave, didn't bother to respond. They all tended to waltz in willy nilly, whether wanted or not. This one's robes were the usual lime green, an appalling color that Severus would happily put behind him, but her blond hair, a color that must have come from a spell, curled forward an inch above her shoulders. Short hair wasn't unknown in Healers, but it was uncommon. It suggested she was either a novice or so exceptional that she could flout conventions.

"I suppose if I told you to leave it would have no effect."

"Afraid not." This one grinned at her own rudeness. Hmm, she was unusual.

She held her wand toward him and asked, "May I?"

He'd learned that Healers left more quickly when he cooperated. "If it will help me leave this infernal facility."

She grinned as if he'd made a joke, and the familiar tingle of a diagnostic spell itched under his skin. She spoke while she scanned him which confirmed her skill. Most witches didn't have the control to both cast a spell and chat. "Clever of you to build an immunity to cobra venom. It saved your life. Well, obviously I saved your life but you would have died at Hogwarts if you hadn't inoculated yourself before being bit." Ah, and there was the expected Healer arrogance. "You obviously used a blend of venoms but I couldn't tell if the Caspian venom had been gathered on the waxing or waning quarter moon."

Severus blinked in surprise. Her question suggested an unusually deep knowledge of potions even for a Senior Healer. "I've found that gathering on the waxing quarter moon enhances the effects on yellow bile and on blood."

She actually paused and looked inward as if considering his words. Surprising. Most Healers tended to assume they knew it all. "Oh my stars and garters! By cooling down the warm humours, your potion protects the body by weakening it. Very, very clever. The blood becomes more sluggish thereby slowing the dispersal of venom through the system, and the reduction of bile humour delays a respiratory attack. No wonder you took so long to heal. You threw your vital bodily fluids completely out of whack. Have you considered patenting the formula? There's not much call for it with snakes I suppose, now that Voldemort's dead, but adapting it for wyvern venom would dramatically decrease mortal injuries n the dragon sanctuaries."

The question didn't seem to warrant an answer.

"Right ho. I'd like to thank you for presenting me with such an interesting case. I mean, I do understand, obviously, that you didn't get bitten just to brighten my day, but still your recuperation did provide quite the interesting challenge and I do like a challenge. Not sure why. Probably easily bored."

"I don't suppose I'm free to leave."

"Oh, didn't I mention? This was your final check. Not really necessary but I did want a bit more data on the effects of that potion of yours. Anytime you're ready, you're free to go. Just try to avoid snake venom for, oh I'd say the next six months or so. Probably best to avoid snakes altogether for a bit."

"That won't be a problem." If he saw another snake ever again, it would be too soon.


End file.
